


Dancing on Quicksand

by trubenblack



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Familial bonding!, Fluff and Angst, Homophobia, M/M, Nicky loves his cousins so much, Past Abuse, Past Homophobic Abuse, non graphic past sexual assault
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-24
Updated: 2018-10-24
Packaged: 2019-08-06 18:52:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16393226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trubenblack/pseuds/trubenblack
Summary: When Nicky took on the Minyard twins, he had never thought they would be as difficult as they were.orthe evolution of Nicky and the twins





	Dancing on Quicksand

When Nicky took on the Minyard twins, he had never thought they would be as difficult as they were. He’d grown up around Aaron, but he’d been away a lot in the last three or so years, with his father sending him away, and then his escape to Germany. When Tilda died, Nicky hadn’t even met Andrew; he just _knew_ he was not going to let them live under the same roof as his father. They’d had more than enough pain in their lives.

 

When he got back to America it hadn’t been easy. Aaron had _hated_ Andrew and yet they rarely left each other’s sides. Eventually Nicky had managed to get Aaron aside and had learned the truth about Tilda’s death. It was the first time he had seen Aaron cry since he was a baby, and the last time he would see Aaron cry for a long time. It had broken his heart to see his cousin hurting, and it had hurt even more watching his cousins attempt to live with this broken relationship they had formed. Both of them scarred beyond belief in completely different ways.

 

Nicky had had to sit through Aaron getting clean. It had been one of the hardest weeks of his life, and that included his time in “reformation camp”, because for Nicky, his own pain was never as important as the pain of those he cared about. He had listened to Aaron scream and cry for his mother, curse both Andrew _and_ Nicky’s names, and he had watched Andrew sit in front of that bathroom door barely looking fazed. Needless to say, Nicky cried a lot that week, although, only in his room, where nobody could see that he was in pain. To the rest of the world, he worked, he was friendly and he never stopped smiling. His smile was his mask, much like Aaron’s sullenness and Andrew’s apathy were masks of their own, and he would continue smiling, no matter how much pain he was in.

 

After Aaron had finally gotten clean, it had been up to Nicky to pick up the pieces, to find Andrew and Aaron jobs, to try to keep the peace when the twins were fighting, to try to keep everyone fed, and to avoid anyone getting a knife in the gut. Nicky had never quite understood Andrew, but it didn’t stop him from doing his damned best to give Andrew the life he obviously had never had. It wasn’t always easy; he felt his world slipping through his fingers on the night he got beat up. But when Andrew was being arrested, and his first and _only_ words were to ask where Nicky and Aaron were, Nicky finally understood just a little, that Andrew cared in his own fucked up way, and that was enough for him. He never gave up on family.

 

Despite knowing Andrew cared, it honestly didn’t make dealing with him a large amount easier, especially when Andrew was on the medication. Andrew was only _easier_ to deal with to the average stranger, his laughter and smiling made him seem more approachable, but a medicated Andrew was a dangerous Andrew. Nicky found that out the hard way when he put his hand on Andrew shoulder and very nearly got stabbed. It didn’t honestly make sense to him how someone could simply have a hand placed on his or her shoulder and get so violent. He had nightmares for weeks after that experience, but he learned to keep his hands to himself.

 

When Andrew was on his medications, it was often easy to forget that this wasn’t just what he was like. When he stopped taking his meds for his own reasons, Nicky almost had a heart attack because Andrew may be difficult, but he didn’t belong in prison, he belonged with his family. But what Andrew said went, and so Nicky went along with his cousin’s stupid ideas and just tried to deal with the damage as best he could.

 

When they joined the foxes, Nicky had his own demons to try to deal with. He had to choose between his cousins and Erik once again. They talked it through, but later Erik would point out that he already knew the outcome before Nicky himself did. Nicky would never make the selfish decision, and if he had, he would have beaten himself to hell for it. The foxes themselves were a whole new struggle. The older boys bringing back memories from ‘summer camps’ that Nicky would have happily spent the rest of his life never remembering. Aaron brought back those memories too, sometimes, when he decided to spew the crap that Tilda and Luther had taught him. Nicky ignored it most of the time, knowing it was just him taking his anger at the world out on anyone who seemed to be weaker than him. But Nicky was _strong,_ stronger than anyone knew. Erik knew of course, Erik was everything to Nicky. They anchored each other, Erik kept Nicky from completely forgetting about his own wellbeing, and Nicky helped Erik to let go, to allow himself to be all over the place rather than always following a straight path. They were tethers for each other when everything was falling apart, Erik was the night and Nicky the day, they revolved around each other in the best way.

 

When Kevin, and then Neil joined the Foxes, Nicky wasn’t going to lie to himself, he was incredibly attracted to them. Not in the way he was to Erik, of course, he was in love with Erik, he just found the two men attractive. Nicky had never been able to control himself much, he talked too much, he sometimes made people uncomfortable and he knew he did it. When he kissed Neil he truly thought he was doing the right thing. His cousin had _told_ him to give Neil the drugs; it was just the simplest way to do it. At the time he didn’t understand just how disgusting what he was doing was. As he got older, he would learn.

 

As Neil’s first year went on, Nicky allowed himself to be selfish for the first time in _years._ He begged Neil to convince Andrew to let him see his family, or at least the people who were supposed to be family. On that night, Nicky finally worked out why Andrew hated to be touched, he had never wished not to know something about his cousin more. Don’t get him wrong, he needed to learn about this, and he wanted to have learned it, in Andrew’s own time and words. But he had never wanted to find anything out _like this._ This was awful, this was scary and this was _his fault._ It took so many conversations with Erik to stop him from blaming himself. The one time he allowed himself to be selfish and this was how it backfired on him. Aaron was even more closed off these days than ever, and Andrew, well when Andrew got out of rehab, Nicky could barely bring himself within two feet of him, too scared of triggering him, too scared of hurting him.

 

When Neil went missing, Andrew panicked. Nicky could see him panicking, but he couldn’t comfort him, he didn’t know _how._ If he was comforting Aaron he would have hugged him, or they would have talked. Andrew didn’t do those things, Nicky would give anything to see into his cousins head, just to know how to _help._ It was heartbreaking, seeing a man who was so solid all the time, coming apart at the seams. The panic made more sense once he realized just how involved Andrew and Neil were. He watched his cousin look after someone, he saw him opening water bottles and pill bottles for Neil, and he saw Andrew sharing a bed with Neil and he had never felt more proud. Even better, he got to see _Aaron_ calm down, and spend time with Katelyn without having to hide. He saw his cousins getting better.

 

One day, Nicky was listening in to a conversation between the two men, _on accident_ honestly, he was just getting something and he heard them. Neil asking a soft question, “ _yes or no?”_ and Andrew responded with a yes. When Nicky rounded the corner, Neil was practically sitting in Andrew’s lap. This was a huge revelation for Nicky that he would never take for granted. He started to make a plan within himself, a way to show his cousin he cared, and he understood in his own way.

 

It happened during the holidays after The Game, against the Ravens, as Nicky had taken to referring to it in his head. They were in Colombia and Nicky was going to visit Germany soon. To others, it wouldn’t be obvious that something had changed in Andrew, but Nicky had seen him through the good and the bad, and he knew that he was doing okay. This was what finally gave him the courage, as he walked up to Andrew when saying goodbye.

 

“Can I put my hand on your shoulder?”

 

Andrew looked at him sharply, his gaze unfathomable with some emotion that Nicky had never seen on his face. Eventually after about a minute, Nicky was thinking he was being ignored so he went to step back, before a quiet voice interrupted his thoughts.

 

“Yes.”

 

Andrew’s voice was full of _something,_ but it was enough. Neil was staring at them with shining eyes when Nicky squeezed Andrew’s shoulder lightly and then went to grab the last of his bags. As he reached for them, Aaron shoved him out of the way and picked up his bags for him. It was enough.

 

When Nicky took on the Minyard twins, he had never thought they would be as difficult as they were, but he had also never expected to love them as much as he did. He wouldn’t ever regret taking them in.

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on tumblr @ Trubenblack !
> 
> I hope you enjoy! I feel like Nicky doesn't get enough credit for all he did for the twins
> 
> Leave kudos and comments pls! and feel free to send me asks on tumblr x


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